The Blessing Of Two
by 12kyla21
Summary: Bella's life as a human is now over. She beings her life as a new vampire with her husband; Edward, and her two daughters; Renesmee and Elizabeth. Renesmee's twin story.
1. New

Everything was so clear. Sharp. Defined. The brilliant light overhead was still blinding-bright and yet I could plainly see the glowing strands of the filaments inside the bulb. I could see each colour of the rainbow in the white light and at the very edge of the spectrum, an eight colour I had no name for.

I look towards the door and there he was. Edward's face was the mos important thing. I stared at Edward and marveled over his beauty. I'd thought this was the one thing in my whole world: the flawlessness of Edward's face. I continued to stare at Edward's face, motionless.

He moved slowly towards me, his hand still outstretched. Edward reached strocked his fingertips across my cheek. Soft as a feather and now exactly the same temperature. "So beautiful" He whispered, as if he read my mid he said, "We're the same tempreture now."

In the corner of the room there was a mirror. My first reaction was as unthinking pleasure. The creature in the glass was indisputably beautiful. Her flawlessface was pale as the moon against the frame of her dark, heavy hair. I smiled at my reflection.

I looked away, to Edward. I threw my arms around him.

Warm or at least, that was my perception. With the sweet, delicous scent that I'd never been able to really take in.

And then he shifted his weight uncomfortably. "Hey Bella...your a lot stronger than I am now" He leaned away from my embrace.

I stared up at his face, "It's your turn not to break me" he joked. I stared into his eyes and heard my own voice for the first time. "I love you" I said, but it sounded like singing. "I love you" he told me.

He took my hand in his hands and leaned his face to mine. It was like he'd never kissed me-like this was our first kiss. And, in truth he'd never kissed me _this _way before.

pulled away and looked at Edward, momentatily by my memory. "My babies" I said. "They're incredible" He smiled. "I have to see them" I stated. "You need to get your thirst under control"

Until he'd mentioned it, the thirst actually wasn't un manageable. Sunddenly, the dry ache was all I could think about and the more I thought about it, the more it hurt. My hand flew up to cup my throat, like I could smother the flames from the outside.

"Let's hunt"

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	2. First Hunt

Edward was faster than me. I couldn't imagine how he moved his legs with such blinding. but it was beyond me.

The wind of my speed blew my hair behind me and though I knew it shouldn't, it felt warm against my skin. Just as the rough forest floor shouldn't feel like velvet beneath my bare soles.

My naked feet touched the ground so infrequently now it felt more like flying than running.

I ran straight into Edward, he wrapped his arms around me.

"Close your eyes" he murmured. I obeyed. "What do you hear?"

Everything; the maple leaves scraping together, the faint clicking od ants following each other. There was an open space near us, the loud thudding of heavy hearts, pumping thick streams of blood... It felt like the sides of my throay had sucked closed.

I felt myself drift with the scent, barely aware of my movement. My body shifted forward automatically into a low crouch. I centered myself around the scent of the elk.

The wind shifted, blowing stronger now and from the south. "Bella don't" I heard Edward say. I didn't stop to think, hurtling out of the trees in a path perpendicular to my original plan, racing after a new fragance so attractive that there wasn't a choice. It was compulsory.

I was suddenly alret to that fact that I was being followed. "Bella stop" I spun around. "I'm sorry, I didn't realise there would be people this far from the trails" Edward's face was intent and cautious.

"I have to get out of here" I spat through my teeth, using the breath I had. "Yeah I can help you..." He said. I didn't have time to answer him.

I burst into a run again. Once again, I was aware of being followed.

My eyes pinpointed the movement linked with the sound and I saw the tawny hide of the great cat slinking along the wide branch. He was big, easily four times my mass. His were intent on the ground beaneath; the cat hunted too. I caught the smell of something smaller, bland next to the aroma of my prey, cowering in brush bellow the tree. The lion's tail twitched spasmodically as he prepared to spring.

I ignored the exposed fangs and hooked claws and launched myslef at him, knocking us both to the forest floor. It wasn't much of a fight.

My teeth unerringly sought his throat and his instinctive was pitifully feeble against my strength.

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	3. Promised

"Well I'm amazed, you ran away from human blood mid-hunt. Even muture vampires have problems with that" Edward told me.

"Oh" But I'd known it was going to be hard. That was why I'd been so on guard. I'd been expecting it to be difficult.

Jacob stood at the line where the forest touched the Cullen's lawn, his arms folded across his body, his jaw clenched tight.

"You still here" I said, shoked. "So are you" He grined. "I didn't expect you to seem so...you, except for the creepy eyes." His grin widened and he shuddered slightly.

"I will keep my distance from now on" I told him. "It's safer for the babies to see how you do with me first"

This was a test? To see if I could not kill Jacob before I tried to not kill my daughters? Was this Edward's idea? What was Jacob doing? Why would he offer himself as a test to protect them? It didn't make any sense to me. Even if our friendship had survived...

"Since when do you care about my daughters?" I asked. It was wonderful that were still friends but it wasn't lie we'd be spending much time together. The strangest look crossed his face erasing the smile. It was almost...guilty? Then his eyes shifted to Edward.

"Alright, take a wiff" Jacob commanded. Jacob didn;t smell that much more human than the mountain lion. There was an animal edge to his blood that instantly repelled. Though the loud, wet sound of his heart was appealing, the scent that went with it made my nose wrinkle.

I took another breath and relaxed. "I can see what everyone else has been talking about. Jake you really do stink"

Edward start laughing; his hands slipping to wrap around my waist. "Let's go meet our daugters" Edward murmured in my ear.

Jacob nearly sprinted into the house ahead of us. Edward took my hand tightly in his and led the way into the house.

We walked through the house and straight through to the living room. I stared at the my daughters in Rosalie's arms. Jacob and Seth infront of them.

The babies in Rosalie's arms had to be weeks, if not months. They was maybe twice the size of the babies in my dim memory. I couln't believe their beauty. Their shiny bronze/brown hair fell in ringlets. Their chocolate brown eyes was the same as mine had been.

I thought about every step before I took it, analyzing my mood, the burn in my throat, the position of the others around me. I was walking slow, which made my daughters squirm in Rosalie's arms. Seth took one of my daughters, she was reaching out pushing against him. My other daughter reached towards Jacob and surprisingly he too her.

I got closer to Seth first. My daughter smiled at me, showing dimples in her face. I took her in my arms. "Which one is this" I asked, glancing at Edward. "It's Elizabeth" he answered, that means my other daughter is Renesmee. I struck Elizabeth's cheek, making her giggle. We had out little moment. I looked over at Renesmee, she gave me a small smile. I gave Elizabeth to Edward.

I reached towards Renesmee, pulling her gently towards me. Jacob let his long arms stretch so that I could cradle her but he didn't let go. She looked up and smiled at me again, showing the same little teeth and dimples as Elizabeth. "I've only been out for two days"

Then, very delibrately, she reached for my face. I was gasping, stunned by the strange, alarming image that filled my mind. I could see throguh my eyes while I watched it in my head. My memory face was twisted, revaged, covered in sweat and blood. Despite this, my expression in the vision became an adoring smile; my brown eyes glowed over their deep circles. The image enlarged, my face came closer to the unseen vantage point and then abruptly vanished.

Renesmee's hand dropped from my cheek. She miled wider, dimpling again. "What was that?" I managed to choke out. "She showed you the first memory she has of you" Edward explained. It was obvious he's been what she was _showing_ me as she thought of it.

"Showed me how?" I asked. "How do I hear thought? How does Alice see the future?" Edward asked rhetorically and then shrugged. "They're gifted" So that means Elizabeth can _show _people her thoughts aswell.

"Alright, that's enough experiment for the day" Jacob said, his voice a slightly pitch with stress. "Jacob! She's doing great" Edward hissed at him.

"Let's not push it though" Jacob said. "What's your problem?" I demanded. I tugged lightly against his hold on Renesmee and he just stepped closer to me. He was pressed right up to me, Renesmee touching both of our chests.

"Oh you tell her, Jacob" Rosalie smirked, patting his back. "This should be good" I heard Emmett say.

I glared at Jacob's anxious half-angry expression. His eyes were locked on Renesmee's face. I puzzled over it, watching him stare at my daughter. Staring at her like...like he was a blind man seeing the sun for the first time.

"No!" I gasped. Edward's arms wrapped around me. "Rose," I said through my teeth, very slowly and precisely. "Take Renesme and Elizabeth our the room"

Rosalie held her hands out and I handed my daughter to her. Both of them backed away from me. "Edward, I don't touch me, I don't want to hurt you" He hesitated then let me go.

I leaned into my hunting crouch and took two slow steps forward toward Jacob. "You imprinted on my daughter" I snarled at him. He backed away, palms up trying to reason with me. "It wasn't my choice"

He backed out the front door now as I stalked him, half-running backward down the stairs "She's a baby"

"It's not like that. You think Edward would let me live if it was?" He was shouting right back at me. "I've held her once. Once. And already you think you have some moronic wolfy claim on her? She's mine" I yelled.

Then he wasn't alone. The two huge wolves reappeared, flanking him on either side. Leah snapped at me. "It's fine, Leah" Jacob said to her.

"You're going to stay away from her" I hissed at Jacob. "You know I can't do that" He said.

"Stop her, Edward" Esme murmured. "It's fine. She's amazing right?" I heard Edward say.

"Do you remember how you wanted to be around me three days ago? That gone right?" Jacob tried reasoning with me. "Long gone" I glared, not sure what he was implying.

"It was her. From the beinging it was Nessie who wanted me here" "You nicknamed my daughter after the _Loch Ness Monster?_" I screeched.

And then I lunged for his throat.

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	4. Memories

"Seth, I-"

"Don't worry about it, Bella, I'm totally fine" Seth said at the same time that Edward said. "Bella, love, no one is judging you. You're doing so well" They hadn't let me finish as sentence yet.

While Carlisle treated Seth's shoulder. Soon after Carlisle treated his shoulder, Seth fell asleep. I frowned at his peaceful face for another minute. Like Jacob, Seth seemed to have the gift of falling alseep at will. Knowing I couldn't be able to apologize again for a while, I got up.

Edward followed me to the back windows and took my hand.

Leah was pacing along the river, stopping every now and then to look at the house. She was looking for her brother and then she was looking at me.

I could hear Jacob and Rosalie outside on the front steps bickering quietly over whose turn it was to feed Renesmee. Their relationship was as antagonisitic as ever; the only thing they agreed on now was that I should be kept away from my baby until I was one hundred percent recovered from my temper tantrum.

My eyes locked on Rosalie, Jacob and Renesmee. They stood in the doorway, Renesmee in Rosalie's arms. Esme came through the kitchen door, holding Elizabeth. Carlisle came down the stairs holding a measuring tape.

"Time to measure Elizabeth and Ness-er, Renesmee" Carlisle explained. "Oh. You do this everyday?"

"Four times a day" Carlisle corrected absently. Rose and Esme set the twins on the couch. "Why" I asked paniced. "They're growing quickly" Edward murmured to me, his voice quite and strained. He squeezed my hand and his other arm wrapped around my waist.

I keept my eyes on Renesmee and Elizabeth.

They had matured from a single cell to normal-sized babies in the course of a few weeks. They looked well on they're yo being a toddler just days after their birth. If this rate of growth held...

My vampire mind had no trouble with the math. "What do we do?" I whispered, horrified. Edward's arms tightened. He understood exactly what I was asking. "I don't know"

"It's slowing," Jacob muttered through his teeth.

After Carlisle had finished Rosalie picked up the girls. Elizabeth reached her hand imperiously toward Rosalie. Rosalie leaned forward so that she could touch her gave. After a second, Rose sighed, then looked at me. "How are you?"

"I'm in control" I promised. Elizabeth reached for me as I reached for her a blinding smile lighting her face. Immediatly, she put her hand against my cheek.

She showed me Edward feeding her baby fomular, but she spit it up on Carlisle. Then it switched to her and Renesmee in the backyard with Rose. It then turned to Seth.

"Did Seth..." I asked, glancing at Edward. He nodded. I gritted my teeth and reminded myself of the negative consequences when I'd let my temper get away from me earlier. Elizabeth replaced her hand on my cheek. I tasted a new flavor to the memory, as she watch Seth put himself in front of my spring. Then there was a question at the end. _Are going to hurt Seth again?_ I shoke my head 'no' at her, she smiled.

After awhile, we moved to sit on the couch. Edward placed Renesmee on my lap aswell. It was Renesmee's turn to show me memory.

After almos an hour, Seth and Jacob was snoring in harmony on the couch. Elizabeth laid her head on my shoulder. Her breath tickling my neck. Renesmee's memory stories began to slow. They got slightly blurry around the edges.

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	5. Surprise

For the first time, I understood how Edward had been able to watch me sleep night after boring night, just to hear me talk in my sleep. I could watch my daughters sleep forever.

The change in Edward's tone caught my attention when he said, "Finally" and turned to gaze out the window. It was deep, purply night outside but I could see just as far as before. Nothing was hidden in the darkness; everything had just changed colours.

Leah, still glowering, got up and slunk into the brush just as Alice came into view on the other side of the river. Alice swung back and forth from a branch like a trapeze artist, toes touching hands, before throwing her body into a graceful flat spin over the river. Esme made a more traditional leap, while Emmett charged right through the water, splashing water so far that splatters hit the back windows. Jasper followed after, his own efficient leap seeming understated, even subtle, after the others.

The huge grin stretching Alice's face was familiar in a dim, odd way. Everyone was suddenly smiling at me- Esme sweet, Emmett excited, Rosali a little superior, Carlisle indulgent and Edward expectant.

Alice skipped into the room ahead of everyone else, her hand stretched out in front of her and imparience making a nearly visible aura around her. In her palm was an everyday brass key with an oversized pink satin bow tied around it.

She took Renesmee and Elizabeth out of my arms before given them to Rosalie. She held out the key out for me, Alice dropped the eye into my left hand.

"Happy birthday" she squealed.

"No. No way!" I shook my head fiercely and then shot a glance at the smug smile on my seventeen-year-old husband's face. "No, this doesn't count. I stopped aging three days ago. I'm eighteen forever."

"Whatever," Alice said, dismissing my protest with a quick shrug. "We're celebrating anyway, so suck it up."

I sighed. There was rarely a point to arguing with Alice.

Alice grabbed my elbow and steered me toward the back door. I realized that lots of things about me-like truly hating surprises and not liking gifts in general much more-had not changed one bit. It was a relief and revelation to discover how much of my essential core traits had come with me into his new body. I hadn't expected to be myself I smiled widely.

Alice tugged my elbow and I couldn't stop smiling as I followed her into the purple night. Only Edward came with us. Alice dropped my arm, made two little bounds and leaped over the river. Edward jumped at the same time I did.

"Don't attack me" She warned and sprang at me. Squirming as she scrambled onto my back and wrapped her hands around my face. I felt the urge to throw her off but I controlled it. I felt Edward's finger weave through mine, he pulled me forward.

Alice hopped down from my back, releasing her grip on my eyes. "Welcome home"

I stared into the violet dark, Ther, nestled into a small clearing in the forest was a tiny stone cottage, lavender gray in the light of the stars. It belonged here so absolutely that it seemed as if it must have grown from rock, a natural formation. Honeysuckle climed up one wall like a lattice, winding all the way up and over the thick wooden shingles. Late summer roses bloomed in a handkerchief-sized garden under the dark, deep set windows. There was a little path of flat stones, amethyst in the night, that led up to the quaint arched wooden door.

"We thought you guys may need a place of your own" Alice's voice was soft now; it fit with the perfect quiet of the storybook scene. I opened my mouth but said nothing. "What do you think?" Edward murmured.

"I think it's perfect" I managed. "Go on inside" Alice suggest. Edward took my hand, pulling towards the cottage. Was he oblivious to the face that an electic current was pulsing through my body like adrenaline-spiked blood?

He held his hand out toward the doorknob, waiting for me to do the honors. I stuck the key in the lock and turned it. He opened the door-it fell back with a barelu audible creak-and stepped through into the little stone living room.

The cottage room was something from a fairy tale. The floor was a crazy quilt of smooth, flat stones. The low ceiling had long exposed beams that someone as tall as Jacob would surelt knnock his head on. The walls were warm wood in some places, stone mosaics in others. The beehive fireplace in the coner held the remains of a slow flickering fire. It was driftwood burning there-the low flames were blue and green from the salt.

It was furnished in pieces, not one of them matching another but harmonious just the same. Our chair seemed vaguely mediecal, while a low ottoman by the fire was more contemporary and the stocked book shelf againstt the far window reminded me of movies set in Italy. Somehow each piece fit together with the others like a big three-dimensional puzzle. There were a few paintings on the walls that I recognized-some of the my very favorites from the big house. Priceless originals, no doubt but they seemed to belong here, too, like all the rest.

We walked down a narrow stone hallway with tiny arches in the ceiling, like it was our own miniature castle. "This is Renesmee and Elizabeth's room" Edward said.

"This is our room" The bed was huge and white, with clouds of gossamer floating down from the canopy to the floor. The pale wood floor matched the other room and now I grasped that it was precisely the colour of a pristine beach. The walls were that almost-white-blue of a brilliant sunny day and back wall had big glass doors that opened into a little hiddne garden. Climbing roses and a small round pound, smooth as a mirror and edged with shiny stone. A tiny, calm ocean for us.

I starred at the bed. "Vampires don't sleep" "It's not intended for sleep" He answered, trailing kisses up and down my neck.

I caught up with his mood in an instant. He pulled my face to his with a sudden fierceness. I heard the fabric tearing under our hands and I was glad _my _cloathes, at least, were already destroyed.

This second honeymoon wasn't like our first.

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	6. Favor

Edward and I darted through the hidden garden, leaped lightly over the ston wall and hit the forest at a dead sprint. I pulled my hand free so that we could race back. He beat me this time.

Renesmee and Elizabeth was awake; they sat on the floor with Rose and Emmett hovering over them, playing with a little pile of twisted silverware and blocks with letters on. Renesmee was the first to spot me through the glass, she chucked the spoon on the floor, where it left a divot in the wood. Then Elizabeth saw, then started clapping her hands, while giggling.

I was through the door, bounding across the room and scooping them up from the floor in the same second. We smiled widely at each other.

"Woooww. Done already?" Emmett managed to get out between his snickers. I gritted my teeth and reminded myself of the negative consequences when I'd let my temper get away from me yesterday. Of course Emmett wasn't as breakable as Seth...

They were different but not so much. A little longer again, their proportions drifting from babyish to childlike. Longer hair, by a quater inch, the curls bouncing like springs with every movement.

Renesmee patted my cheek. I winced. She was hungry again.

Edward disappeared through the kitchen doorway. I was sure he was on his way to get their breakfast.

"Where're the wolves today?" I glanced out the window wall, but there had been no sign of Leah on the way in. "Jacob took off this morning pretty early," Rosalie told me, a little frown creasing her forehead. "Seth followed him out."

"What was he so upset about" Edward asked as he came back into the room with Elizabeth's and Renesmee's cups. There must have been more in Rosalie's memory than I'd seen in her expression.

Without breathing, I handed Elizabeth to Esme and Renesmee to Rosalie. Super-self-control, maybe but there was no way I was going to be able to feed them. Not yet.

"I don't know or care," Rosalie grumbled but she answered Edward's question more fully. "He was watching Nessie sleep, his mouth hanging open like the moron he is and then he just jumped to his feet without any kind of trigger - that I noticed, anyway - and stormed out. I was glad to get rid of him. The more time he spends here, the less chance there is that we'll ever get the smell out"

"Rose," Esme chided gently.

Alice was on her feet. "What is that _dog _doing that has erased my schedule for the entire day? I can't see _anything_! No!" She shot me a tortured glance. "Look at you! You need me to show you how to use your closet"

For one second I was grateful for watever Jacob was up to.

And then Edward's hands balled up into fists and he snarled, "He talked to Charlie. He thinks Charlie is following after him. Coming here. Today."

Alice said a word that sounded very odd in her trilling, ladylie voice, and then she blurred into motion, streaking out the back door.

Edward spoke through his teeth. "Jacob's on his way in now."

Jacob came through the door. His teeth glinted against his dark lips; his eyes were bright and excited. He walked with jerky movements, like he was all hyped-up about destroying my father's life.

"Hey, guys." he greeted us, grinning.

Seth and Leah slipped in behind him, Leah was in her human form-for now. Both their hands were trembling with the tension in the room.

"Charlie'll be here soon," Jacob said to me casually. "Just a heads-up. I assume Alice is getting you sunglasses or something?" "You assume _way _too much," I spit through my teeth. "What. Have. You. Done?"

Jacob's smiled wavered, but he was still too wound up to answer seriously. "Blondie and Emmett woke me up this morning going on and on about you all moving cross-country. Like I could let you leave. Charlie was the biggest issue there, right? Well problem solved."

"Do you realize what you've done? The danger you've put him in?"

He snorted. "I didn't put him in danger. Except from you. But you've got some kind of supernatural self-control, right?"

Edward moved then, darting across the room to get in Jacob's face. "That just a theory. mongrel," he snarled. "You think we should test it out on Charlie? Did you consider the physical pain you're putting Bella through"

Edward's words finally cut through Jacob's strangely electric mood. His mouth dropped in a frown. "Bella will be in pain?"

"Like you've shoved a white-hot branding iron down her throat!" I flinched, remembering the scent of pure human blood. "So, Jacob don't pretend your doing this for anyone, but your self"

"I'm sorry you feel that way, because Charlie will be here in ten minutes"

Alice raced back through the door then, her hands full and her expression promising violence.

"You, you and you" she snapped, glaring at the were wolves. "If you must stay, get over in the corner and commit to being there for a while. I need to see."

Jacob went to get Renesmee from Rosalie, then guestured to the others, and they all went to the far corner of the room. Seth was holding Elizabeth, Seth and Jacob slouched on the floor at once, but Leah shook her head and pursed her lips.

"Am I allowed to leave?" she griped. She looked uncomfortable in her human boy, wearing the same dirty t-shirt and cotton shorts. Her hands were still shaking.

"Of course" Jake said. She ducked out the back door and stomped into the bushes and phase.

Alice held out her hand. There was a small white box on her palm. "Theses will irritate your eyes-they won't hurt, but they'll cloud your vision. It's annoying. They also won't match your old colour, but it's still better than bright red, right?"

I nodded and opened the container. I'd never worn contacts before, but it couldn't be that hard. I took the little brown quarter-sphere and pressed it, concave side into my eye.

I blinked, and a film interrupted my sight. I could see through it, of course, but also see the texture of the thin screen. My eye kept focusing on the microscopic scratches and wrapped sections.

"I see what you mean" I murmured as I stuck the other one in. I tried to not blink this time my eye automatically wanted to dislodge the obstruction.

"Keep in mind that those won't last forever - the venom in your eyes will dissolve them in a few hours. So if Charlie stays longer than that, you'll have to excuse yourself to replace them. Which is a good idea anywaay, because humans need bathroom breaks." She shook her head. "Esme, give her a few pointers on acting human while I stock the power room with contacts."

"How long do I have?"

"Charlie will be here in five minutes. Keep it simple"

Esme nodded once and came to take my hand. "The main thing is not sit to still or move too fast" she told me.

"Sit down if he does," Emmett interjected. "Humans don't like to just stand there."

"Let your eyes wander every thirty seconds or so," Jasper added. "Humans don't stare at one thing for too long."

"Cross your legs for about five minutes, then switch to crossing your ankles for the next five," Rosalie said.

I nodded once at each suggestion. I'd notice them doing some of these yesterday. I thought I could mimic their actions.

"And blink at least three times a minute," Emmett said. He frowned, then darted to where the television remote sat on the end table. He flipped the TV on to a college football game and nodded to himself.

"Move your hands, too. Brush your hair back or pretend to scratch something," Jasper said.

"I said _Esme_" Alice complained as she returned. "You'll overwhelm her."

"No, I think I got it all," I said. "Sit, look around, blink, fidget"

"Right," Esme approved. She hugged my shoulders. Jasper frowned. "You'll be holding your breath as much as possible, but you need to move your shoulders a little to make it look like you're breathing." I inhaled once and then nodded again.

"Two minutes," Alice said. "Maybe you should start out already on the couch. You've been sick, after all. That way he won't have to see you move right at first."

Alice pulled me to the sofa. I tried to move slowly, to make my limbs more clumsy. She rolled her eyes, so I must not have been doing a good job.

"Jacob, Seth, I need my daughters" I said. Seth got up and brought Elizabeth to me, but Jacob frowned, unmoving.

Alice shook her head. "Bella, that doesn't help me see" "But I _need _them, They keep me calm" The edge of panic in my voice was unmistakable.

"Fine" Alice groaned. "Hold them as still as you can and I'll _try _to see around them." She sighed wearily, like she'd been asked to work overtime on a holiday. Jacob sighed, too, but brought Renesmee to me, and then retreated quickly from Alice's glare.

Edward took a seat beside me and put his arms around, Elizabeth, Renesmee and me. He leaned forward and looked Renesmee and Elizabeth very seriously in the eyes.

"Someone special is coming to see us" he said in a solemn voice, as if he expected them to understand every word. Did they? They looked back at him with clear, grave eyes. "But he's not like us, or even like Jacob and Seth. We have to be very careful with him. You shouldn't tell him things the way you tell us"

Elizabeth touched his face. "Exactly." he said. "And he's going to make you thirsty. But you mustn't bite him. He won't heal like Jacob and Seth"

This time it was Renesmee to touch his face. "No, I don't care if you bite Jacob. That's fine." Jacob chuckled.


	7. Shiny

The sound of Charlie's cruiser got closer and closer. The second of levity passed, and everyone was still. I crossed my legs and practiced my blinks.

The car pulled in front of the house and iddled for a few seconds. I wondered if Charlie was as nervous as I was. Then the engine cut off, and a door slammed. Three steps across the grass, and then eight echoing thuds against the wooden stairs. Four more echoing footsteps across the porch. Then silence. Charlie took two deep breaths.

Knock, knock, knock.

I inhaled for what might be the last time. Renesmee nestled deeper into my arms, while Elizabeth hid her face in my hair.

Carlisle answered the door. His stressed expression changed to one of welcome, like switching the channel on the TV.

"Hello, Charlie." he said, looking appropriately abashed.

After all, we were supposed to be in Atlanta at the Center for Disease Control. Charlie knew he'd been lied to. "Carlisle," Charlie greeted him stiffly. "Where's Bella?"

"Right here, Dad." Ugh! My voice was so wrong. Plus, I'd used up some of my air supply. I gulped in a quick refill, glad that Charlie's scent had not saturated the room yet.

Charlie's blank expression told me how off my voice was. His eyes zeroed in on me and widened. I read the emotions as they scrolled across his face. Shock. Disbelief. Pain. Loss. Fear. Anger. Suspicion. More pain.

I bit my lip. It felt funny. My new teeth were sharper aginst my granite skin than my human teeth had been against my soft human lips. "Bella?" he whispered.

"Hi, Dad." I winced at my wind-chime voice. He took a deep breath to steady himself.

"Are you okay?" he demanded. "Really and truly great," I promised. "Healthy as a horse." That was it for my oxygen.

"Jacob told me this was...necessary. That you were dying." He said the words like he didn't believe them one bit.

I steeled myself, focused on Renesmee and Elizabeth's warm weights, leaned into Edward for support, and took a deep breath.

Charlie's scent was a fistful of flames, punching straight down my throat. But it was so much more than pain. It was a hot stabbing of desire, too. Charlie smelled more delicious than anything I'd ever imagined. As appealing as the anonymous hikers had been on the hunt, Charlie was doubly tempting. And he was just a few feet away, leaking mouthwatering heat and moisture into the dry air.

But I wasn't hunting now. And this was my father.

Edward squeezed my shoulders sympathetically, and Jacob shot an apologetic glance at me across the room. I tried to collect myself and ignored the pain and longing of the thirst. Charlie was waiting for my answer.

"Jacob was telling you the truth." "That makes one of you" Charlie growled.

I hoped Charlie could see past the changes in my new face to read the remorse there. Renesmee sniffed as Charlie's scent registered with her, too. Elizabeth moved my hair, his scent had reached her.

Charlie saw my anxious glance down and followed it. "Oh," he said, and all the anger fell off his face, leaving only shock behind. "This is them. The orphans Jacob said you're adopting"

"My nieces" Edward lied smoothly. He must have decided that the resemblance between them and him was too pronounced to be ignored. Best to claim they were related from the beginning.

"I thought you'd lost your family" Charlie said, accusation returning to his voice.

"I lost my parents. My older brother was adopted like me. I never saw him after that. But the courts located me when he and his wife died in a car accident, leaving only children without any other family."

Renesmee glanced shyly at Charlie from under her long lashes. Elizabeth peeked out from under my hair, then hid again.

"They...they, well, they are a beauty" "Yes," Edward agreed.

"Kind of a big responsibility, though. You two are just getting startedd"

"What else could we do?" Edward brushed his fingers lightly over Renesmee and Elizabeth's cheeks. I saw him touch their lips for just a moment - a reminder. "Would you have refused them?"

"Hmph. Well" He shook his head absently. "What are they're names?"

"Her name is Renesmee..." I said looking and then to Elizabeth. "...and this is Elizabeth"

"Charlie refocused on me. "How do you feel about this? Maybe Carlisle and Esme could-" "They're mine," I interrupted. "I _want _them"

Charlie frowned. "You gonna make me a grandpa so young?" Edward smiled. "Carlisle is a grandfather, too." Charlie shot an incredulous glance at Carlisle, still standing by the front door; he looked like Zeus's younger, better-looking brother.

Charlie snorted and then laughed. "I guess that does sort of make me feel better" His warm breath blew lightly across the space between us. Renesmee and Elizabeth leaned toward the smell, looking him full in the face for the first time. Charlie gasped.

I knew what he was seeing. My eyes - his eyes - copied exactl into their perfect face.

Charlie started hyperventilating. His lips trembled, and I could read the numbers he mouthed. He was counting backward, trying to fit mine mouths into one. Trying to put it together but not able to force the evidence right in front of him to make any sense.

Jacob got up and came over to pat Charlie on the back. He leaned in to whisper something in Charlie's ear; only Charlie didn't know we could all hear. "Need to know, Charlie. It's okay. I promise"

Charlie swallowed and nodde. And then his eyes blazed as he took a step closer to Edward with his fists tightly clenched.

"I don't want to know everything, but I'm done with the lies!"

"I'm sorry," Edward said calmly. "but you need to know the public story more than you need to know the truth. If you're going to be apart of this secret, the public story is the one that counts. It's to protect Bella, Elizabeth and Renesmee as well as the rest of us. Can you go along with the lies for them?"

The room was full of statues. I crossed my ankles. Charlie huffed once and then turned his glare to me. "You might've give me some warning, kid"

"Would it really have made this any easier"

He frowned, and then he knelt to the floor infront of me. I could see the movement of the blood in his neck under his skin. I could feel the warm vibration of it.

It had been a long day in some ways, an so short in others. Charlie was late for dinner - Sue Clearwater was cooking for him and Billy. That was going to be an awkward evening, but at least he'd be eating real food; I was glad someone was trying to keep him from starving due to his lack of cooking ability.

All day the tension had made the minutes pass slowly; Charlie had never relaxed the stiff set of his shoulders. But he'd been in no hurry to leave, either. He'd watched two whole games - thankfully so absorbed in his thoughts that he was totally oblivious to Emmett's suggestive jokes that got more pointed and less football-related with each aside - and the after-game commentaries, and then the news, not moving until Seth had reminded him of the time.

"Jake says you guys were going to take off on me" Charlie muttered to me now.

"I didn't want to do that if there was any way at all round it. That's why we're still here"

"He said you could stay a while, but only if I'm tough enough, and if I can keep my mouth shut."

"Yes...but I can't promise that we'll never leave, Dad. It's pretty complicated..."

"Need to know" he reminded me. "Right"

"You'll visit, though, if you have to go?"

"I promise, Dad. Now that you know just enough, I think this can work. I'll keep as close as you want."

He chewed on his lip for half a second, then leaned slowly toward me with his arms cautiously extended. Edward was now holding Renesmee and Elizabeth - napping now. I locked my teeth, held my breath, and wrapped my arms very lightly around his warm, solf waist.

"Love you, Dad" I whispered through my teeth. He shivered and pulled away. I dropped my arm.

"Love you, too, kid. Whatever else has changed, that hasn't"

Charlie walked thoughtfully toward his car. I watched him drive away; it wasn't until I heard his tires hit the freeway that I realized I'd done it. I'd actually made it through the whole day without hurting Charlie. All by myself. I _must _have a super power!

"Well done Bella. I've never seen a newborn show that kind of restrain." Jasper said.

"I'm not even sure she's really a vampire, let alone a newborn" Emmett called from under the stairs. "She's too tamed"

All the embarrasing comments he'd made in front of my _father _sounded in my ears again. Unable to help my reaction entirely, I snarled under my breath.

"OOOO, scary," Emmett laughed.

"Not brilliant, Emmett" Edward said scornfully. "What do you mean?" Emmett demanded.

"It's a little dense, don't you think, to antagonize the strongest vampire in the house?"

Emmett threw his head back and snorted. "_Please!_"

I took a deep breath. "Emmett, how do you feel about a little bet?" He was on his feet at once. "Awesome. Bring it."

I bit my lip for a second. He was just so _huge_. "Unless you're too afraid...?" Emmett suggested.

I squared my shoulders. "You. Me. Arm-wrestling. Dinning room table. Now" Emmett's grin stretched across his face.

"Er, Bella" Alice said quickly, "I think Esme is fairly fond of that table. It's an antique" "Thanks," Esme mouthed at her.

"No problem," Emmett said with a gleaming smile. "Right this way, Bella."

I followed him out the back, toward the garage; I could hear all the others trailing behind. There was a largish granite boulder standing up out of a tumble of rocks near the river, obviously Emmett's goal. Though the big rock was a little rounded and irregular, it would do the job.

Emmett placed his elbow on the rock and maved me forward.

I was nervous again as I watchd the thick muscles in Emmett's arm roll, but I kept my face smooth. Edward had promised I would be stronger than anyone for a while. He seemed very confident about this, and I _felt _strong. _That strong? _I wondered, looking at Emmett's biceps. I wasn't even two days old, though, and that ought to count for something. Unless nothing was normal about me. Maybe I wasn't as strong as normal newborn. Maybe that's why control was so easy for me.

I tried to look unconcerned as I set my elbow against the stone.

"Okay, Emmett. I win, and you cannot say one more word about my sex life to anyone, not even Rose. No allusions, no innuendos - no nothing."

His eyes narrowed. "Deal. I win, and it's going to get a _lot_ worse"

He heard my breath stop and grinned evilly. There was no hint of buff in his eyes.

"You gonna back down so easy, little sister?" Emmett taunted. "Not much wild about _you_, is there? I bet that cottage doesn't have a scratch." He laughed. "Did Edward tell you how many houses Rose and I smashed?"

I gritted my teeth and grabbed his big hand. "One, two-" "Theree," he grunted and shoved against my hand. Nothing happened.

Oh, I could feel the force he was exerting. My new mind seemed pretty good at all kinds of calculations, and so I could tell that if he wasn't meeting any resistance, his hand would have pounded right through the rock without difficulty. The pressure increased, and I wondered randomly if a cement truck doing forty miles an hour down a sharp decline would have similar power. Fifty miles an hour? Sixty? Probably more.

It wasn't enough to move me. His hand shoved against mine with crushing force, but it wasn't unpleasant. It felt kind of good in a weird way. I'd been so very careful since the last time I woke up, trying so hard not to break things. It was a strange relief to use my muscles. To let the strength flow rather than struggling to restrain it.

Emmett grunted; his forehead creased and his whole body strained in one rigid line toward the obstacle of my unmoving hand. I let him sweat - figuratively - for a moment while I enjoyed the sensation of the crazy force running through my arm.

A few seconds, though, and I was a little bored with it. I flexed; Emmett lost an inch.

I laughed. Emmett snarled harshly through his teeth.

"Just keep your mouth shut," I reminded him, and then I smashed his hand into the boulder. A deafening crack echoed off the trees. The rock shuddered, and a piece about an eighth of the mass - broke off at an invisible fault line and crashed to the ground. It fell on Emmett's foot, and I snickered. I could hear Jacob's and Edward's muffled laughter.

Emmett kicked the rock fragment across the river. It sliced a young maple in half before thudding into the base of a big fir, which swayed and then fell into another tree.

Fascinated by the undeniable proof that I was stronger than the strongest vampire I'd ever known, I placed my hand, fingers spread wide, against the rock. Then I dug my fingers slowly into the stone, crushing rather than digging; the consistency reminded me of hard cheese. I ended up with a handful of gravel.

"Cool," I mumbled.

With a grin stretching my face, I whirled in a sudden circle and karate-chopped the rock with the side of my hand. The stone shrieked and groaned and—with a big poof of dust - split in two.

I started giggling.

The sun suddenly burst through the clouds, shooting long beams of ruby and gold across the ten of us, and I was immediately lost in the beauty of my skin in the light of the sunset. Dazed by it.

My time as a human was over. I've never felt more alive. I was born to be a vampire.


	8. The Encounter

**Shout out to Matthias Stormcrow who has commented on every chapter, thank you so much.**

* * *

Everything was falling into place. Even the volturi seem to except my new status; they sent me a gift. _The necklace was simple—gold woven into a thick rope of a chain, almost scaled, like a smooth snake that would curl close around the throat. One jewel hung suspended from the rope: a white diamond the size of a golf ball._

Though they would want proof eventually, that the Cullens had been obedient to the Volturi's orders.

It seems we have only one enemy left. _Time. _Renesmee and Elizabeth was growing to fast. At three months, they could pass as a seven-year-olds, or a small six-year-olds. Their bronze ringlets hung to their waist; I couldn't bare to cut them, even if Alice would have allowed it. They could speak with flawless grammar and articularion but they rarely bothered, preferring to simply _show _people what they wanted. We all worried how long we would have with them. It just made every moment more precious.

The five of us, Jacob, Renesmee, Seth, Elizabeth and I, were hunting together.

"Look, a snowfake" Renesmee, held out a snowflake. "It's beautiful, why don't you go get another one" I told her. I watched as Elizabeth danced around the clearing, sticking her tongue out to catch the snowflakes. Seth was watching her.

"Edward thinks we will find answers in Brazil. There are tribes there who might know something" I said to Jacob and Seth but they didn't reply they were in wolf form.

Carlisle and Edward had exhausted the research they could do from a distance and now we were preparing to follow old legends at their source. We were going back to Brazil, starting there. The Ticunas had legends about children like Renesmee and Elizabeth... If other children like them had ever exited, perhaps some tale of the life span of half-mortal children lingered...

The only real question left was exactly when we would go.

I looked at Renesmee. She was staring at the snowflakes fluttering above her head, melting before they could stick to the ground. As I watched her, she crounched for an instant and then spang fifteen feet up into the air. Her little hand closed around the flake. then she dropped lightly to her feet.

She turned to look at me with her shocking smile and opened her hands to show the perfectly formed eight-pointed ice star in her palm before it melted.

"Mommy, mommy look" I heard Elizabeth called, she ran over to me. She held out her hand but all there was, was a drop of water. She frowned.

As my eyes flitted across the edge of a distant cliff, standing out sparkly blue gray against the green black fores, a glint a silver or was it gold? My gaze zeroed in on the colour that shouldn't have been there, so far away in the haze that an eagle wouldn't have seen.

Her hair was pale, pale blond. I was absolutely certain I'd never seen her before, even as a human. None of the faces in my muddy memory were the same. I knew her at once from her dark golden eyes.

Irina had decided to come after all.

"Irina" I called. Her gaze cut to Jacob, Renesmee, Seth and Elizabeth. Her face spasmed in pain. She turned back to me and her lip curled back to her teeth. Her jaw unlocked as she gowled.

I opened my mouth to call her over but she had already turned and disappeared.

"Who was that?" Renesmee asked, as she cling on to Jacob's russet leg. "I think that's our cousin from Denali" I replied.

I ran after Irina but I was not able to catch up with her. She had jumped of the cliff.

**Please Review :)**


	9. The Future

**A/N ; Sorry for late update, I've been really busy. **

* * *

I stared at Renesmee and Elizabeth, as they sat on the sofa.

Alice moved slowly - for her - around the big room, unnescessarily tidying the already immaculate spave, straightening Esme's perfectly hung garlands. She was recentering Esme's vasses on the console at the moment.

She lifted one crystal vase that was filled with white and red roses and turned toward the kitchen. There was just the barest hint of wilt to one of the white flowers but Alice seemed intent on utter perfection as a distraction to her lack of vision to night.

Staring at Renesmee and Elizabeth again, I didn't see it when the vase slipped from Alice's fingers. I only heard the whoosh of the air whistling past the crystal and my eyes flicked up in the time to see the vase shatter into ten thousand diamond shards againt the edge of the kitchen's marble floor.

I heard Edward gasp; it was a broken, half-choked sound.

We were perfectly still as the fragmented crystal bounced and skittered in every direction with an unmusical tinkling, all eyes on Alice.

My first illogical though was that Alice was playing some joke on us. Because there was no way that Alice could have dropped the vase by _accident. _I could have darted across the room to catch the vase in plenty of time myself, if I hadn't assumed she would get it. And how would it fall through her fingers in the first place? Hr perfectly sure fingers...

I had never seen a vampire drop anything by accident. Ever.

Alice's eyes were halfway here and halfway locked on the future, wide, staring, filling her thin face till they seemed to overflow it. Looking into her eyes was like looking out of a grave from the inside; I was burried in the terror and despair and agony of her gaze.

"What?" Jasper growled, leaping to her side in a blurred rush of movement, crushing the broken crystal under his feet. He grabbed her shoulders and shook her sharply. She seemed to rattle silently in his hands. "What, Alice?"

Emmett moved into my peripheral vision, his teeth bared while his eyes darted toward the window, anticipating an attack.

There was only silence from Esme, Carlisle, and Rose, who were frozen just as I was.

Jasper shook Alice again. "What _is _it?"

"They're coming for us" Alice and Edward whispered together, perfectly synchronized. "All of them"

Silence.

For once, I was the quickest to understand - because something in their words triggered my own vision. It was only the distant memory of a dream - faint transparent, indistinct as id I were peering through thick gauze... In my head, I saw a line of black advancing on me, the ghost of my hald-forgotten human nightmare. I could not see the glint of their ruby eyes in the shrouded image, or the shine of their sharp wet teeth, but I knew where the gleam should be...

Stronger than the memory of the sight came the memory of the _feel _- the wrenching need to protect the precious thing behind me.

I felt not like stone but ice. For the first time since I'd been reborn a vampire, I felt cold. I barely heard the confirmation of my fears. I didn't need it. I already knew.

"The Volturi," Alice moaned.

"All of them," Edward groaned at the same time. "Why?" Alice whispered to herself. "How?"

"When?" Edward whispered.

"Why?" Esme echoed.

"When?" Japser repeated in a voice like splintering ice.

Alice's eyes didn't blink, but it was as if a veil covered them; they became perfectly blank. Only her mouth held on to her expression of horror.

"Not long," She and Edward said together. Then she spoke alone. "There's snow on the forest, snow on the town. Little more than a month."

"Why?" Carlisle was the one to ask this time.

Esme answered. "They must have a reason. Maybe to see..."

"This isn't about Bella," Alice said hollowly. "They're all coming - Aro, Caius, Marcus, every member of the guard, even the wives."

"The wives never leave the tower," Jasper contradicted her in a flay voice. "Never. Not during the southern rebellion. Not when the Romanians tried to overthrow them. Not even when they were hunting the immortal children. Never"

"They're coming now," Edward whispered.

"But why?" Carlisle said again. "We've done nothing! And if we had, what could we possibly do that would bring _this_ down on us?"

"There are so many of us," Edward answered dully. "They must want to make sure that…" He didn't finish.

"That doesn't answer the crucial question! Why?"

I felt I knew the answer to Carlisle's question, and yet at the same time I didn't. Renesmee and Elizabeth was the reason why, I was sure. Somehow I'd known from the very beginning that they would come for them. My subconscious had warned me before I'd known I was carrying them. It felt oddly expected now. As if I'd somehow always known that the Volturi would come to take my happiness from me.

But that still didn't answer the question.

"Go back, Alice," Jasper pleaded. "Look for the trigger. Search."

Alice shook her head slowly, her shoulders sagging. "It came out of nowhere, Jazz. I wasn't looking for them, or even for us. I was just looking for Irina. She wasn't where I expected her to be…" Alice trailed off, her eyes drifting again. She stared at nothing for a long second.

And then her head jerked up, her eyes hard as flint. I heard Edward catch his breath.

"She decided to go to them," Alice said. "Irina decided to go to the Volturi. And then they will decide… It's as if they're waiting for her. Like their decision was already made, and just waiting on her…"

It was silent again as we digested this. What would Irina tell the Volturi that would result in Alice's appalling vision?

"Can we stop her?" Jasper asked.

"There's no way. She's almost there."

"What is she doing?" Carlisle was asking, but I wasn't paying attention to the discussion now. All my focus was on the picture that was painstakingly coming together in my head.

I pictured Irina poised on the cliff, watching. What had she seen? A vampire and a werewolves who were best friends. I'd been focused on that image, one that would obviously explain her reaction. But that was not all that she'd seen.

She'd also seen a children. Exquisitely beautiful children, showing off in the falling snow, clearly more than human …

Irina…the orphaned sisters…Carlisle had said that losing their mother to the Volturi's justice had made Tanya, Kate, and Irina purists when it came to the law.

Just half a minute ago, Jasper had said the words himself: _Not even when they were hunting the immortal children… _The immortal children—the unmentionable bane, the appal ling taboo …

With Irina's past, how could she apply any other reading to what she'd seen that day in the narrow field? She had not been close enough to hear their hearts, to feel the heat radiating from their body. Their rosy cheeks could have been a trick on our part for all she knew.

After all, the Cullens were in league with werewolves. From Irina's point of view, maybe this meant nothing was beyond us…

Irina, wringing her hands in the snowy wilderness—not mourning Laurent, after all, but knowing it was her duty to turn the Cullens in, knowing what would happen to them if she did. Apparently her conscience had won out over the centuries of friendship.

And the Volturi's response to this kind of infraction was so automatic, it was already decided.

I turned and draped myself over to Elizabeth and Renesmee, snatching them into my arms.

"Think of what she saw that afternoon," I said in a low voice, interrupting whatever Emmett was beginning to say. "To someone who'd lost a mother because of the immortal children, what would Elizabeth and Renesmee look like?"

Everything was silent again as the others caught up to where I was already.

"Immortal children," Carlisle whispered.

I felt Edward kneel beside me; wrap his arms over us both.

"But she's wrong," I went on. "Elizabeth and Renesmee are not like those other children. They were frozen, but they grows so much every day. The immortal children were out of control, but Renesmee or Elizabeth never hurts Charlie or Sue or even shows them things that would upset them. They _can_ control herself. They are already smarter than most adults. There would be no reason…"

I babbled on, waiting for someone to exhale with relief, waiting for the icy tension in the room to relax as they realized I was right. The room just seemed to get colder. Eventually my small voice trailed off into silence.

No one spoke for a long time.

Then Edward whispered into my hair. "It's not the kind of crime they hold a trial for, love," he said quietly. "Aro's seen Irina's _proof_ in her thoughts. They come to destroy, not to be reasoned with."

"But they're wrong," I said stubbornly.

"They won't wait for us to show them that."

His voice was still quiet, gentle, velvet…and yet the pain and desolation in the sound was unavoidable. His voice was like Alice's eyes before—like the inside of a tomb.

"What can we do?" I demanded.

Renesmee and Elizabeth was so warm and perfect in my arms. I'd worried so much about their speeding age—worried that they would only have little over a decade of life… That terror seemed ironic now.

Little over a month …

Was this the limit, then? I'd had more happiness than most people ever experienced. Was there some natural law that demanded equal shares of happiness and misery in the world? Was my joy overthrowing the balance? Was four months all I could have?

It was Emmett who answered my rhetorical question. "We fight," he said calmly.

"We can't win," Jasper growled. I could imagine how his face would look, how his body would curve protectively over Alice's.

"Well, we can't run. Not with Demetri around." Emmett made a disgusted noise, and I knew instinctively that he was not upset by the idea of the Volturi's tracker but by the idea of running away. "And I don't know that we _can't_ win," he said. "There are a few options to consider. We don't have to fight alone."

My head snapped up at that. "We don't have to sentence the Quileutes to death, either, Emmett!"

"Chill, Bella." His expression was no different from when he was contemplating fighting anacondas. Even the threat of annihilation couldn't change Emmett's per spective, his ability to thrill to a challenge. "I didn't mean the pack. Be realistic, though—do you think Jacob or Sam is going to ignore an invasion? Even if it wasn't about Nessie? Not to mention that, thanks to Irina, Aro knows about our alliance with the pack now, too. But I was think ing of our other friends."

Carlisle echoed me in a whisper. "Other friends we don't have to sentence to death."

"Hey, we'll let them decide," Emmett said in a placating tone. "I'm not saying they have to fight with us." I could see the plan refining itself in his head as he spoke. "If they'd just stand beside us, just long enough to make the Volturi hesitate. Bella's right, after all. If we could force them to stop and listen. Though that might take away any reason for a fight…"

There was a hint of a smile on Emmett's face now. I was surprised no one had hit him yet. I wanted to.

"Yes," Esme said eagerly. "That makes sense, Emmett. All we need is for the Volturi to pause for one moment. Just long enough to _listen_."

"We'd need quite a show of witnesses," Rosalie said harshly, her voice brittle as glass.

Esme nodded in agreement, as if she hadn't heard the sarcasm in Rosalie's tone. "We can ask that much of our friends. Just to witness."

"We'd do it for them," Emmett said.

"We'll have to ask them just right," Alice murmured. I looked to see her eyes were a dark void again. "They'll have to be shown very carefully."

"Shown?" Jasper asked.

Alice and Edward both looked down at Renesmee. Then Alice's eyes glazed over.

"Tanya's family," she said. "Siobhan's coven. Amun's. Some of the nomads—Garrett and Mary for certain. Maybe

"What about Peter and Charlotte?" Jasper asked half fearfully, as if he hoped the answer was no, and his old brother could be spared from the coming carnage.

"Maybe."

"The Amazons?" Carlisle asked. "Kachiri, Zafrina, and Senna?"

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**A/N ; Thanks for ready :)**


	10. Defection

I was still stronger than the rest of them, and I used that strength to push myself forward. I overtook Esme in a few bounds, and Rosalie in just a few strides more. I raced through the thick forest until I was right behind Edward and Carlisle.

"Would they have been able to surprise her?" Carlisle asked, his voice as even as if he were standing motionless rather than running at full speed.

"I don't see how," Edward answered. "But Aro knows her better than anyone else. Better than I do."

"Is this a trap?" Emmett called from behind us. "Maybe," Edward said. "There's no scent but Alice and Jasper. Where were they going?"

Alice and Jasper's trail was curling into a wide arc; it stretched first east of the house, but headed north on the other side of the river, and then back west again after a few miles. We recrossed the river, all six jumping within a second of each other. Edward ran in the lead, his concentration total.

"Did you catch that scent?" Esme called ahead a few moments after we'd leaped the river for the second time. She was the farthest back, on the far left edge of our hunting party. She gestured to the southeast.

"Keep to the main trail—we're almost to the Quileute border," Edward ordered tersely. "Stay together. See if they turned north or south."

I was not as familiar with the treaty line as the rest of them, but I could smell the hint of wolf in the breeze blow ing from the east. Edward and Carlisle slowed a little out of habit, and I could see their heads sweep from side to side, waiting for the trail to turn.

Then the wolf smell was suddenly stronger, and Edward's head snapped up. He came to a sudden stop. The rest of us froze, too.

"Sam?" Edward asked in a flat voice. "What is this?"

Sam came through the trees a few hundred yards away, walking quickly toward us in his human form, flanked by two big wolves—Paul and Jared. It took Sam a while to reach us; his human pace made me impatient. I didn't want time to think about what was happening. I wanted to be in motion, to be doing something. I wanted to have my arms around Alice, to know beyond a doubt that she was safe.

I watched Edward's face go absolutely white as he read what Sam was thinking. Sam ignored him, looking straight at Carlisle as he stopped walking and began to speak.

"Right after midnight, Alice and Jasper came to this place and asked permission to cross our land to the ocean. I granted them that and escorted them to the coast myself. They went immediately into the water and did not return. As we journeyed, Alice told me it was of the utmost importance that I say nothing to Jacob about seeing her until I spoke to you. I was to wait here for you to come looking for her and then give you this note. She told me to obey her as if all our lives depended on it."

Sam's face was grim as he held out a folded sheet of paper, printed all over with small black text. It was a page out of a book; my sharp eyes read the printed words as Carlisle unfolded it to see the other side. The side facing me was the copyright page from _The Merchant of Venice_. A hint of my own scent blew off of it as Carlisle shook the paper flat. I realized it was a page torn from one of my books. I'd brought a few things from Charlie's house to the cottage; a few sets of normal clothes, all the letters from my mother, and my favorite books. My tattered collection of Shakespeare paperbacks had been on the bookshelf in the cottage's little living room yesterday morning…

"Alice has decided to leave us," Carlisle whispered. "What?" Rosalie cried.

Carlisle turned the page around so that we all could read.

We stood frozen again, the silence total but for the sound of the wolves' heartbeats, their breathing. Their thoughts must have been loud, too. Edward was first to move again, speaking in response to what he heard in Sam's head.

"Yes, things are that dangerous."

"Enough that you would abandon your family?" Sam asked out loud, censure in his tone. It was clear that he had not read the note before giving it to Carlisle. He was upset now, looking as if he regretted listening to Alice.

Edward's expression was stiff—to Sam it probably looked angry or arrogant, but I could see the shape of pain in the hard planes of his face.

"We don't know what she saw," Edward said. "Alice is neither unfeeling nor a coward. She just has more infor mation than we do."

"_We_ would not—," Sam began.

"You are bound differently than we are," Edward snapped. "_We_ each still have our free will."

Sam's chin jerked up, and his eyes looked suddenly flat black.

"But you should heed the warning," Edward went on. "This is not something you want to involve yourselves in. You can still avoid what Alice saw."

Sam smiled grimly. "_We_ don't run away." Behind him, Paul snorted.

"Don't get your family slaughtered for pride," Carlisle interjected quietly.

Sam looked at Carlisle with a softer expression. "As Edward pointed out, we don't have the same kind of free dom that you have. Renesmee is as much a part of our family now as she is yours. Jacob cannot abandon her, and we cannot abandon him." His eyes flickered to Alice's note, and his lips pressed into a thin line.

"You don't know her," Edward said.

"Do you?" Sam asked bluntly.

Carlisle put a hand on Edward's shoulder. "We have much to do, son. Whatever Alice's decision, we would be foolish not to follow her advice now. Let's go home and get to work."

Edward nodded, his face still rigid with pain. Behind me, I could hear Esme's quiet, tearless sobs.

I didn't know how to cry in this body; I couldn't do anything but stare. There was no feeling yet. Everything seemed unreal, like I was dreaming again after all these months. Having a nightmare.

"Thank you, Sam," Carlisle said.

"I'm sorry," Sam answered. "We shouldn't have let her through."

"You did the right thing," Carlisle told him. "Alice is free to do what she will. I wouldn't deny her that liberty."

I'd always thought of the Cullens as a whole, an indivisible unit. Suddenly, I remembered that it had not always been so. Carlisle had created Edward, Esme, Rosalie and Emmett; Edward had created me. We were physically linked by blood and venom. I never thought of Alice and Jasper as separate—as adopted into the family. But in truth, Alice _had_ adopted the Cullens. She had shown up with her unconnected past, bringing Jasper with his, and fit herself into the family that was already there. Both she and Jasper had known another life outside the Cullen family. Had she really chosen to lead another new life after she'd seen that life with the Cullens was over?

We were doomed, then, weren't we? There was no hope at all. Not one ray, one flicker that might have convinced Alice she had a chance at our side.


End file.
